`Blast in Nashik because of firecracker powder`

Nashik: Nashik police on Friday said that the
June 8 blast at the three-storey Saptshrungi Apartment in
Panchavati area here took place during illegal manufacture of
firecrackers at a ground floor shop.

Three persons were killed in the blast which destroyed
ground floor and the first floor.

Prime accused Manohar Gurunani made loud-noise `sutali
bombs` in the shop using a newly-purchased machine, according
to the police.

At a press conference this afternoon, Nashik police
commissioner Vinod Lokhande said Gurnanai had earlier kept the
machine at his Maratha Fireworks Factory at Rasegaon in
Dindori taluka. But due to frequent power-cuts, it was shifted
here.

The firecracker powder contained potassium nitrate and
other ingredients of sutali bomb, also popularly called `atom
bomb`, he said.

Due to the small, closed room, impact of the blast
increased, he said.

No high-intensity explosives like gelatin were found.

Gurunani had a firecracker-manufacture license for
Rasegaon factory, Lokhande said.

According to police, the shop is owned by Shakti
Charandas Gavai, a local resident. He rented it out to Lalit
Ramdas Page for Rangoli colours manufacturing, but Page and
Gurunani started manufacturing firecrackers there.